Off-roading: Rock chicks on a roll

Its the ultimate off-road challenge  and women are some of the keenest to play, says John Cantlie

At the bottom of a rocky crevice in the Moab valley in Utah a strange looking jeep is slowly traversing a section of boulders, each one the size of a Mini. In front of it is a near-vertical cliff and to the side, just 20ft away, a yawning chasm. Suddenly there’s a barrage of engine noise and the jeep comes blasting straight up the slope, cresting the top like a first-world-war tank before slamming down on to all four wheels just yards from a whooping crowd.

Welcome to the world of rock crawling, a new and extreme form of off-roading that has taken parts of rural America by storm. But contrary to its macho pretensions, the sport is proving to be a surprise hit with the ladies.

The driver of the jeep is Jennifer Little, a 36-year-old married mother of one from St George, Utah. Rather than use her 4x4